Adding RSS Feeds to WordPress

For the Full Version of WordPress Only

There is a lot you can do with feeds on WordPress blogs, and I’ll be talking about that more over the next few months, but here is an interesting new WordPress Plugin and technique for creating feeds on a Page on your blog.

44 Comments

Hi Lorelle: I got to say that I really like this plugin and have incorporated all my favorite blogs into my own ‘favorites‘page. The reason I read your blog daily is because you always have something new about wordpress to help me improve my blog.

Now I can easily add new blogs to my reading list and my readers can also see what I am reading for themeselves. Next step is to incorporate podcast feeds itno my blog using this tool. Pretty cool!

Just a little feedback: Feedlist works pretty fine; however you should not try to use it on your blog’s OWN article feed, as this will cause an infinite loop which will stall the server. I have written about this in the plugin’s issue tracker (to no avail yet).
(I had tried this to show my own feed as a demo.)

Hello. I need to do the reverse. I need to make my client’s WordPress Blog broadcast RSS feeds. I am Googling this idea and keep finding ways to receive the feeds but not offer the feed. There must be a plug-in for this?

I have a new RSS feed WP plugin that builds automated posts of RSS feeds based on the keywords / keyword phrases you choose. It is called RSSdoodle and is base on my twitterdoodle plugin platform, but instead of pulling tweets, it pulls relevant RSS feeds into posts.

Hi Lorelle,
I have been reading through your site, and you have the best info out there! But, you’ll have to forgive me, this is my first time using wordpress. All I want to do is import feeds from other sites to add to our content, credibility, etc. I have already set up my RSS feeds both in my browser and in FeedDemon. But, I cannot figure out the best way to import them. So, I’d like to have a page that says ‘feeds’ or something simple, and have it all import to there. But, I’m not finding a simple solution. Forgive me for a primitive question, but thank you!!!

@Katie: Don’t do it. Adding feeds from other sites does NOT impact any credibility or adds to your content. That’s a myth. An abused myth. Focus on putting your own original content on your site, and if you find something interesting through reading your feeds in your feed reader, then blog it, don’t import the feeds. That’s old think. If you have a page that says “feeds” people will think that is your “subscription” page listing the feeds you have available on your site, not other people’s stuff.

The days of showcasing “other people’s stuff” is over. Showcase your own and make other people want to add your site to their feed reader and blog about you. Skip this ancient step in SEO BS mythology.

Hi Lorelle,
Thanks so much for your feedback! So, I totally understand what you are saying, but I thought that since we want to be a resource for our customers, and we are not an online mag, we should use feeds to be a one-stop for our customers to get info, and link to get more. I trust your advice, for sure, but it’s a total change to what I thought. Can you help me out?

@Katie: Can I help you with what? Having other people’s content on your site without permission is illegal. It also takes credibility away from you, not bring it to you. Your customers know how to use Google, right? I’m not being mean, just honest.

If you want to feature content to help your customers, then write about it in a blog post. Feeds do little good and are usually ignored. Writing about other people’s content gives you a chance to say why it’s important your readers leave your site and check out the information, giving them even more reason to come back. Feeds don’t do that.

I don’t know how much more I can help you on this issue, but if you are really new to blogging, I recommend you consider my book, Blogging Tips, to help you understand how this all works.

This is great, its just what I needed. Can I add multiple feeds to one page? I would like to be able to show multiple feeds on my homepage page Planes and Aviation, I.E. news and videos and images maybe.

I do not recommend adding feeds to your blog as a replacement to content. That is punishable by Google as duplicate content and a violation of copyright if you use the full content or a majority of content as a replacement to original content. The answer is yes, but use it wisely and carefully.

Are you available for a quick RSS question? I am trying to get news feeds to post automatically in my home page under specific category. I want the feed to appear under “conservative news”. I am using Feedwordpress and that works, however, it won’t import images. I want the images too and am tired of beating my head against the computer screen. If you look at the feed you can see there news feeds right onto the home page and includes videos and images along with some posts. Can you please help. :)

There are many and I do not appreciate most of them. Such usage is for duplicating content and stealing content from sites without permission. Therefore, I do not support nor promote any of them, even if the usage is of value.

Just a little feedback: Feedlist works very good; nevertheless you must not make an effort to use it on your blog’s Personal article feed, as this will bring about an infinite loop which will stall the server. I have created about this inside the plugin’s issue tracker (to no avail nevertheless).

RSS feeds are good to getting your articles on other sites and this article is great. I’ve used your site to setup our free legal advice guides. However, I’ve found that our own articles have been reproduced on other sites without our permission and many claim that it’s the RSS feed settings. First, make sure you’ve got the settings for summary set for RSS feeds and NOT full article. Try using your own rss feed button to check it. Next, if the button is set right, copy a unique portion of text and then paste it into a search engine and see if it appears elsewhere. You may find it on a few sites. We’ve had to send takedown notices. It’s a part of syndication. Good luck!

As a “lawyer” you are the first to understand that feeds have nothing to do with the rights of the copyright holder to control their copyrights. As a syndicator, please restrict the content you scrap with excerpts and full credits and not rely upon content providers to change their feeds.

This article helped a lot when I needed the information in a hurry. I am using it in test on my rss page now, need to figure out how to do small little rss feeds as well, any suggestions anyone? Just to put in a small box that can be expanded by the user would be the best. As it stands it seems this plugin uses most of a page. Thank you in advance, ~Katz

Quick question, I read one of your replies to a comment earlier about having RSS feeds as content on a blog. I completely understand and don’t want the complete article of rss feeds just excerpts and of course the excerpt leading the reader back to the original site. How do I do that. Is what you posted 4 years ago the only way I can do that? Again, I just want 3-5 sentence excerpts from different sites as content on my main page but NOT in a widget or sidebar. Any advice would be great.

There is CSS you can apply to convert the feed into a widget, I’m sure, and there are feed widgets that offer scrolling, and Plugins that also do this, but honestly, it is hated. Any animation on a website is really awful, but it’s available.

According to your comment information you are on WordPress.com where you cannot install WordPress Plugins. FeedList WordPress Plugin appears to allow you to add a feed to a post or page on your site. There are dozens of WordPress Plugins that do that, some I featured a while ago in WordPress Plugins for Feeds. Many of these are still going and there are many more new ones.

[…] It seems pretty straight forward you would think. “Just google it” I told myself… well, the answer is no. Actually, I thought I had found a fantastic side explaining how to do so but after 5 minutes of contemplating the explanations, I realised that Lorelle was explaining how to add – within your blog – updated information on other blogs! If you are interested there it is: How to use RSS feeds on your WordPress site […]

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[…] It seems pretty straight forward you would think. “Just google it” I told myself… well, the answer is no. Actually, I thought I had found a fantastic side explaining how to do so but after 5 minutes of contemplating the explanations, I realised that Lorelle was explaining how to add – within your blog – updated information on other blogs! If you are interested there it is: How to use RSS feeds on your WordPress site […]

Lorelle VanFossen is a master of wordpress blogging. She has been blogging since 1994 and has achieved mass success online. She writes regularly now for several blog columns and is author to a massive amount of articles online which can really help you…

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